In the field of dispensing hygiene products from a stack or roll of hygiene products arranged in a dispenser, several possibilities of arranging the hygiene products are known.
Typically, it is desired that when a product is withdrawn from the dispenser, the next product is to be automatically positioned in a dispensing position in the dispenser such that it can easily be reached by a user. To this end, it is desired to use arrangements for ensuring that a leading end of a web material including the products is always in the right dispensing position where it can be easily grasped by a user.
In dispensers which are powered, e.g. electrically, the feeding of the leading end of the web to a dispensing position may be accomplished by a powered feeding arrangement. In manual dispensers (not powered), the feeding of the leading end should however preferably be accomplished using only the force applied by a user when pulling a product from the web material.
Stacks of interfolded hygiene products have been suggested in which two webs, each comprising connected individual hygiene products, are provided in an interfolded manner.
The individual hygiene products are defined by the two webs both being provided with weakening lines, such as perforation lines, such that the individual hygiene products are connected to one another by the weakening lines before separation into individual products by a user rupturing said weakening lines. To ensure the presentation of a leading end of a web to a user, it has been proposed to arrange the two webs in the stack such that the weakening lines of one web are offset with respect to the weakening lines of the other web.
Hence, when the stack comprising the two webs being arranged in an offset relationship is set-up in an appropriate dispenser, and a user pulls the leading individual hygiene product, a weakening line of the web containing the product will break so as to separate said hygiene product from that web, and, simultaneously, the other of the two webs will be pulled along with the product, such that a leading end of a product from the other web will now be presented to a user. Accordingly, automatic feeding may be achieved in a manual dispenser.
However, stacks comprising two interfolded webs as described in the above are also suitable for use in powered dispensers.
WO00/00072 describes an example of a stack of interfolded products in accordance with the above.
However, the use of a stack consisting of at least two separate webs running in parallel, may also invoke some problems.
In a dispenser, the web material will generally run from a storage space for containing the stack of folded material, to a dispensing opening. Hence, the dispenser will define a web path along which unfolded web material runs from said storage space to said dispensing opening.
In particular when it is desired to enable storing of a relatively large amount of web material in the dispenser, it has been proposed to arrange the storage space and the web path such that the web material is fed from the top of the stack.
Generally, along said web path, the web material may be supported by various means such as rollers, nips etc. Some of those means could be efficient to urge the two webs of the web material together.
For initial set-up of a web of material to be dispensed, the stack must be positioned in the storage space of the dispenser, and a leading end of the web material must be threaded along the web path to the dispensing opening. Such threading might involve pulling the web through nips or over rollers of various kinds, and might sometimes be rather difficult to perform. It has been realized that threading such dispensers using a stack comprising at least two separate webs might be perceived as extra difficult, as it must be ensured that both webs are correctly introduced, and with a maintained offset relationship between the webs. Moreover, if an unintentional web breakage occurs somewhere along the web path, another threading of web material must be performed to re-set the web material in the dispenser.
For correct feeding of the web material from the dispenser, it is necessary that the offset relationship between the two webs is maintained. However, there is a risk that this relationship is disturbed along the web path, in other words, that the feeding of the two webs, respectively, becomes asynchronous. This in turn might lead to less than optimal dispensing of sheets from the dispenser. This problem has been found to be particularly manifest in dispensers where the web is to be fed from the top of the stack of material, presumably because of the action of gravity. Also, since the asynchronisation between the webs may increase in magnitude during continued dispensing of the web material, it becomes particularly pronounced during uninterrupted dispensing of relatively long lengths of web material, such as when using large stacks and/or several interconnected stacks for forming long uninterrupted web lengths. At the same time, uninterrupted dispensing is desired since it lessens the need for maintenance of the dispensers.
It is the object of the invention to provide an improved stack of web material in regard of at least one of the above-mentioned aspects.